Some medical instruments are equipped with one or more controls or mechanisms for applying, transmitting, or providing one or more modalities to an anatomical feature or site of interest. The modalities may be electrosurgical or non-electrosurgical. However, during a medical procedure, locating and actuating the one or more of the controls may be difficult, time consuming, and/or cumbersome.
For example in some instances, the controls may be located outside of a surgeon's natural hand position or finger reach, which may undesirably require the surgeon to reposition their grip on the instrument and/or look away from the anatomical feature or site of interest to locate the controls. Additionally, or alternatively, in some instances, actuating one or more of the controls may cause the instrument to unintentionally move or shift in the surgeon's hand and/or cause the anatomical feature to move or slip from the instrument, which may cause damage to the anatomical feature or site of interest and/or may add additional time to the procedure.
Some instruments have several controls, each of which may be configured or adapted to provide a different modality. Learning and/or deciding what modality each control is configured or adapted to apply, transmit, or provide may confuse or frustrate a surgeon and/or may add additional time to the procedure. Another concern is that a surgeon may actuate the wrong control(s), which may apply, transmit, or provide an unintended modality, which may result in damage to the instrument, the anatomical feature, and/or a site of interest.
It may therefore be desirable to have a medical instrument that is adapted to apply, transmit, or provide one or more modalities without requiring a surgeon to search for and/or actuate one or more controls. For example, it may be desirable to have an instrument that is adapted to apply, transmit, and/or provide a particular modality when an instrument is reconfigured from one use configuration to another use configuration—for example, when the instrument is reconfigured from a forceps device to a cutting blade, or vice versa. It may be desirable to have an instrument that is enabled to apply, transmit, or provide a particular modality to an anatomical feature or site of interest when one or more moveable members are moved or repositioned—for example, when the arms of the instrument are positioned in a closed or open position; when an arm or blade is advanced or retracted; when a shuttle, switch or other control is moved; or a combination thereof.
Examples of some medical instruments may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,179,258 and 8,251,989; and in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2016/0051275A1, all of which are incorporated by reference herein for all purposes.